SEEING STARS

I got to play Yard Sale Pricing Consultant this morning. At the first sale, they had some beautiful men’s clothing that a young man was checking out, but he left without buying anything. The price they quoted was $15 for a pair of slacks. Which would be a dirt-cheap bargain in a store, but not on a driveway. At least not in my book. So while I was chatting with the nice folks having the sale I mentioned that clothing around here sells for very little at yard sales. I suggested they try asking five bucks, and if that doesn’t fly then go down to a dollar. After all, the point is to get rid of stuff. Sometimes your choice is to get a buck for an item, or donate it to the thrift store later. And people are genuinely thrilled to get a good deal—witness all the blogging that goes on about what we find thrifting!

While we were talking the lady’s sister arrived and handed her a Starbucks cup. She said thanks, now she had two cups since her husband had gotten some too. “Give it back,” her sister demanded. I think setting up a yard sale probably requires at least two cups of caffeine.
The nice clothing they were selling came from the couple’s son in law. I told the wife she looked way too young to even have a son in law, and her sister beamed at me. “Thanks,” she said, “I'm the younger sister.” And her husband piped up, “Yeah, and I'm her oldest son!”

They gave me four little stuffed animals to pass along to my children’s librarians. Won’t these be fun at storytime or in a book display?

Met a couple of cute dogs. Frankie is a French bulldog.
When they let him out of his pen so I could say hello, he went straight to the garage next door. “He knows there are tennis balls in there,” they said as they retrieved him. Turns out Frankie is their daughter’s dog, and she has just moved back in with them and brought the dog along. Up till now our conversation had been light, but evidently the return of daughter with dog has been the cause of some tension. The mother began a rant about how no one should ever get a pet before they have children, you just want to run around when you’re young and don’t want any responsibility. By her theory I could never have had pets since I've never had kids. But maybe I was never really young; don't remember much running around! I soon made my good bye and good luck speech.

This adorable pup was passing by on her morning walk.
Lily is a six month old cocker/lab mix. Don’t you want to kidnap her?

Another sale this week was advertised on Craigslist as The Yard Sale of the Gods. Don’t know if it was the same folks who used that phrase a few weeks ago. You had to make an appointment with those gods to view their stuff. Since there was an address this time I went by. Perhaps the sale had been more divine earlier in the morning, but if this was the Yard Sale of the Gods, they were very minor deities. Definitely upheld my belief that the more hype around a sale, the worse it will turn out to be. My husband calls it a Two Bald Tires and a Candle Stub sale.

I felt like I didn’t find a thing, but I actually managed to spend $5.25. Brought home this nice linen shirt, one of Macy’s house brands:
It says to dry clean, but you know that’s not going to happen! Twenty five cent clothing gets a lovely handwash and if it shrinks, off to Goodwill.

This funny guy is a gift for a colleague who likes skulls. Now if I could just find a Screaming Banshee she’d be ecstatic!

Found some DVDs…
…and a CD of bagpipe music.
At my last stop I picked up this cute lantern, a tiny bit tarnished but that should polish away easily. It will be fun to see stars across the yard.
When I left the lady having the sale said, “Wish I could get in that convertible and go with you.” Come on, I told her. I'm just going to the grocery store, but we’d have a good time!